Eradication of gender discrimination still a dream
ISLAMABAD: Even after the passage of decades, all attempts to eradicate gender discrimination remain a wishful thinking as male-dominating society is not ready to accept the role and talent of the women,” The Post learnt while conducting a survey on Monday.
“We, as a nation, want to change our image from extremists to moderates and liberal society but gender discrimination could not be abolished even after a couple of decades. It is a bitter truth that at very early stages, a child is being taught he is a man and more powerful or he is head of a family while a girl is asked to keep herself at home. She is not allowed to go outside to play with her age fellows, especially with boys. When these children take admission in school, the textbooks taught to them are different from those taught to males.
Aysha Manzoor, a student of National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, said that there was need of democracy to abolish gender discrimination. “There can be no democracy if half of the population is not considered equal to the other half, legally, economically and socially. She said education was meant to be a progressive force, but in Pakistan curricula and textbooks should be made free of gender discrimination. “Our books at primary and high-level schooling are a primary tool which is cultivating gender discrimination.
Usma Hayat from the same university was of the view that if any woman got admission in a reputable college or university, males did not consider that she deserved it but remarked it was due to her femininity. She said that gender ideology was based on the division, distinction and differentiation of all ideas, practice, beliefs, attitudes, values and thoughts into two separate categories of masculine and feminine. These ideas are then declared to be mutually exclusive, like men are brave and women are timid.
“This ideology creates power relations between men and women at all levels from the home to the school, workplace and all the way to public and political life. This discrimination enters all spheres, including economic, social, political, and cultural. “Gender ideology is not based on biology which determines differences only in the reproductive sphere. It is socially and historically constructed, as views on what it means to be masculine or feminine have varied historically and geographically. The ideology is consolidated through institutions of socialisation like home, school, laws, religion etc.”Imran Seleman, a student of Islamic International University Islamabad (IIUI), said that in his views, a female had more rights than a male in Islam. If she was at home, it did not mean that she was deprive of her basic human rights. He said that he strongly believed that women were more respectable and they should have equal rights to move in the society.
Source: The post
Date:9/25/2007
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